Another excerpt: He turned, whoever he was, and looked at me. I do not know if I can tell you what it is like to really be looked at, to feel a mind, alien to yours, attempting to bore beneath your skin and understand the composition of your true, your human bones. It is something that, I am convinced, few people ever experience. I looked into his odd yellow eyes (they looked like dead eyes, like the glazed, shrunken eyes of a fish left out too long in summertime) and I knew, suddenly, that the face I saw was no face at all. It was a mask. ‘Is this true, girl? Can you sing?’ How can I describe his voice to you? It was a deep, sweet tenor, like rubbing raw, wet silk across my naked breasts. Seven words. They were delicious. I answered him. ‘Yes. When I was a child. I haven’t sung for years though, since my father died. I might have lost the gift.’ ‘No.’ His voice was smiling, the painted lips never moved. ‘The gift of music can never be taken from you. Is it possible that you simply require someone to sing to?’ My hands were clasped beneath my heart, I felt my own pulse in my fingers. I had totally forgotten about poor Annie. I never noticed when she slid to the floor. The stranger nodded, as though to himself. ‘It is possible. Probable. Yes.’ His eyes flicked back to mine, a quick, cold cut given by a sharp, sure knife. ‘Sing for me. Now.’ ‘Right here?’ I looked around, the Comte and the managers were crowded in the lobby. They had moved on to brandy and fresh, expensive cigars. They might hear, but they would not interfere. He nodded, his body unmoving, stiff as rigor mortis, his hands clasped hard behind his back. I opened my mouth. For the first time in years real music poured out. He nodded once, bowed like someone unused to such motion, and left me there to scoop up Annie, who snored and drooled onto tiles that cost more per pound than her weekly salary. When I looked up again, staggering beneath the weight of her, he had totally vanished. It is funny, now, how much loss I felt then. It felt just like an ending.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 08:04:44 +0000
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